Contents

Plot

Thomas finds out that Bertie has lost his trust in the railway's service after it failed to deliver tar to mend the roads two weeks earlier, and resolves to find the source of the problem.

Meanwhile, James is complaining about having to shunt while Percy is at the harbour when Gordon advises him to pretend to be sick. When Thomas arrives James tells him he is ill, and Thomas offers to take his trucks for him. The trucks, who are cross at James for bumping them, decide to get to take their anger out on Thomas. On the way back from the quarry, the trucks push Thomas over some points and onto a jetty, which floats across the pond and sinks. Thomas is humiliated at the unexpected incident.

Now I know I can trust an engine, especially if his name is Thomas!

Duck takes the trucks away and Edward helps Thomas home. Thomas then remembers about the missing tar and informs Edward about it; he recalls a tar tanker was left at Wellsworth and offers to collect it to ensure it reaches Bertie's road. James and Gordon apologise for their trick, and Bertie arrives saying the road is being mended and he has regained his trust in the railway. Gordon and James slowly leave for the shed, but Thomas is still not alone for it so happens that the toad from the pond has stowed away on his valence.

The steel rig from the TUGS episode High Tide can be seen at Knapford Yard.

Goofs

Although James says that he has to do Percy's work while Percy's at the harbour, Percy can be seen in the background in a close up of Gordon smiling in the yard.

While Thomas passes the camera while taking the trucks to the quarry, the last truck's face is falling off.

In one of the shots of Thomas passing the camera with the empty trucks, one of the truck's faces is off-centre.

When Thomas leaves the quarry and when Thomas crosses the bridge, his trucks have no faces, even though they had them before and after.

Thomas passes the points leading to the muddy pond before the narrator has time to say so.

While Thomas was being pushed by the troublesome trucks into the pond, Thomas' weight moved the track slightly.

The narrator said that Thomas' driver applied the brakes, but his wheels are still moving.

In a rare picture, a camera can be seen at the top left amongst the trees before Thomas runs onto the jetty.

In the close-up of Thomas after he rides the jetty, his wheels have already sunk into the pond, but in the next shot of his wheels, they have not sunk yet.

Edward says a truck of tar was left at his station, but two appear in the flashback.

The toad on Thomas' front at the end has adhesive underneath its feet.

In the US version, the narrator says that the trucks pushed Thomas past the points even though this had happened long before the scene had begun.

In the restored version, the camera shakes in one of Gordon's close-ups.

In the restored version, James goes past the camera completely when pushing the trucks, resulting in the sound being heard later after James hits the trucks and James' actions being repeated when he meets Gordon in the next scene.

In the first scene, Clarabel is facing the wrong way.

In the first shot of the yard, Edward is seen pulling express coaches and there is a goods train passing through next to him, but in the next shot, both trains have disappeared.

During the exchange between Gordon, James and Thomas, Edward and Duck's whistle sounds and a guard's whistle are heard many times.

When Bertie arrives at the yard to thank Thomas for helping to find the tar, some stone trucks are in the siding to Bertie's right. However, when the shot switches to a close up of Bertie, the trucks have disappeared.

The camera slightly moves in the first shot of the jetty.

Quotes

Thomas: Bad luck Bertie. Now if you were a steam engine, you would run on a pair of reliable rails.

Bertie: Hmmph! The railway was supposed to deliver tar to mend the road two weeks ago! You can't trust a thing that runs on rails!

Thomas: I run on rails. You can trust me, Bertie. I'll see if I can find out what's happened.